Batsman Numbers Breakdown

TapsC wrote: ↑Wed Jan 30, 2019 6:15 am

What I find more interesting is that this justifies something I actually never used to agree with. The theory that the pre-2004 guys were better even though they had lower averages because they played against better opponents. Those tier 1 averages kind of prove that theory.

I guess if I were to analyse the pre 2004 guys you’d have to Class Bangladesh as a Tier 3 side, I haven’t got much on at work atm so maybe I’ll have a look at it.

The thing to remember is that by playing the Tier 1 sides more often, it made the guys better, how much better can’t be measured.

Out of curiosity, I did a similar analysis of Bangladesh's ODI batsmen. Back in 2004, both BD and ZIM were in a similar position. Both had a lot of very young players thrust into the fire without any guidance from senior players (BD didn't have any seniors of high repute, and ZIM lost theirs in the rebel crisis).

Tier 1 Average (Innings) @ Strike Rate

Soumya_______39.50 (13) @ 94.42

Mushfiqur_____38.77 (44) @ 81.02

Mahmudullah__35.03 (36) @ 75.74

Tamim_______33.56 (49) @ 83.86

Shakib________28.28 (49) @ 72.07

Liton_________26.90 (11) @ 88.48

Sabbir________25.07 (15) @ 90.93

Mosaddek_____24.00 (6) @ 59.62

Habibul_______22.54 (31) @ 57.34

Ashraful______21.79 (40) @ 73.02

Soumya has only played 13 innings. But we see that while the Big 4 have decent to good numbers, the younger guys like Liton, Sabbir, Mosaddek really need to work on their games.

Jaybro, if it isn't too much trouble what are the combined tier 1&2 numbers?

I did a top 8 versus the rest comparison a few years ago that I'd like to compare to these updated stats you've done.

Jemisi wrote: ↑Thu Jan 31, 2019 7:07 am

Jaybro, if it isn't too much trouble what are the combined tier 1&2 numbers?

I did a top 8 versus the rest comparison a few years ago that I'd like to compare to these updated stats you've done.

No problem at all

Cheers mate

G'day mate and welcome to ZCF

Welcome mate, you’re 100% right about guys like BT, Hamilton & co being thrown into the deep end hurting their career numbers. Even guys like Stuey & Vusi would have been much better players if they had been brought into the side in the right circumstances

Not much happening at the moment so I thought I'd look at the break down of Zimbabwe's batsman in ODI Cricket and how they do against the bigger sides compared to the lessor sides. A lot gets made of player averages and as we know numbers can be misleading, a certain player might have their numbers 'beefed up' from battering the minnows, whilst other players might have done better against the better sides. I decided to look at the main guys of the post rebels era, I'm sure the numbers will be of some interest to most here and produce some debate.

I will divide the opposition sides into three tiers,

TIER 1: Australia, England, India & South Africa

TIER 2: Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Windies, New Zealand & Bangladesh

TIER 3: Afghanistan, Ireland, Scotland, Kenya, Hong Kong, UAE, Canada & Bermuda

Averages v Tier 1_______________Averages v Tier 2_________________Averages v Tier 3

Chamu Chibhabha____31.73 (15)________Sikander Raza ______ 37.27 (37)_________Stuart Matsikenyeri _____ 53.77 (12)

Tatenda Taibu_______31.60 (32)________Sean Williams_______35.38 (59) ________ Brendan Taylor _________48.13 (34)

Elton Chigumbura____30.05 (42)________Brendan Taylor______34.85 (110) _______ Tatenda Taibu__________48.12(9)

Brendan Taylor______29.07 (33)________Craig Ervine ________ 30.09 (38) ________ Sean Williams__________ 42.32 (30)

Sikander Raza_______23.07 (17)________Solomon Mire________28.75 (16)_________Hamilton Masakadza_____42.10 (41)

Hamilton Masakadza_ 22.76 (46)________Tatenda Taibu_______26.41(85)_________ Vusi Sibanda____________39.50 (12)

Sean Williams_______21.53 (29)________Hamilton Masakadza__25.71 (116) _______ Sikander Raza__________ 38.34 (31)

Craig Ervine________ 21.00 (10)________Vusi Sibanda________ 25.07 (82) ________ Craig Ervine____________35.50 (33)

Stuart Matsikenyeri__20.70 (29)________ Malcolm Waller______23.83 (40) ________ Peter Moor_____________26.72 (12)

Vusi Sibanda_______ 16.13 (30)________ Elton Chigumbura ___ 23.48 (117)________Elton Chigumbura_______ 26.61 (36)

Malcolm Waller_____10.00 (11)________ Chamu Chibhabha ___ 22.40 (69) ________Chamu Chibhabha________21.68 (19)

Solomon Mire ________9.00 (5)_________Peter Moor _________18.60 (22) ________ Solomon Mire___________17.63 (19)

Peter Moor __________6.40 (5)_________Stuart Matsikenyeri __18.16 (69)________ Malcolm Waller_________ 14.83 (21)

Interesting that Chamu, Taibu & Elton are the only players to average over 30 against the 'Tier 1' sides, whilst Chamu & Elton actually do better against 'Tier 1' sides than they do against the rest. No surprises the rest of the guys average better against the 'Tier 3' & 'Tier 2' sides.

Matsi averaging nearly 54 against the 'Tier 3' sides from 12 innings is impressive, but shows he really wasn't very useful against the other sides whom he faced for the bulk of his career.

Quite concerning how badly Zimbabwe's 'elite batsman' do against the 'Tier 1' sides, I guess you can argue these guys would be better players now if they consistently played the best sides, but their numbers are quite damning.

Below is a closer look at each players numbers in the three Tiers.

Brendan Taylor-

Career Average 35.79 Innings 187 Runs 6156 50's 36 100's 10

Tier 1 Average 29.07 Innings 43 Runs 1192 50's 5 100's 2

Tier 2 Average 34.85 Innings 110 Runs 3520 50's 22 100's 6

Tier 3 Average 48.13 Innings 34 Runs 1144 50's 9 100's 2

Hamilton Masakadza-

Career Average 28.16 Innings 203 Runs 5604 50's 34 100's 5

Tier 1 Average 22.76 Innings 46 Runs 1047 50's 6 100's 0

Tier 2 Average 25.71 Innings 116 Runs 2957 50's 18 100's 2

Tier 3 Average 42.10 Innings 41 Runs 1600 50's 10 100's 3

Sean Williams-

Career Average 33.28 Innings 118 Runs 33.28 50's 29 100's 2

Tier 1 Average 21.53 Innings 29 Runs 603 50's 6 100's 0

Tier 2 Average 35.38 Innings 59 Runs 1734 50's 15 100's 1

Tier 3 Average 42.32 Innings 30 Runs 1058 50's 8 100's 1

Craig Ervine-

Career Average 31.08 Innings 81 Runs 2176 50's 12 100's 2

Tier 1 Average 21.00 Innings 10 Runs 189 50's 1 100's 0

Tier 2 Average 30.09 Innings 38 Runs 993 50's 5 100's 1

Tier 3 Average 35.50 Innings 33 Runs 994 50's 6 100's 1

Sikander Raza-

Career Average 34.40 Innings 85 Runs 2477 50's 13 100's 3

Tier 1 Average 23.47 Innings 17 Runs 399 50's 1 100's 0

Tier 2 Average 37.27 Innings 37 Runs 1081 50's 5 100's 2

Tier 3 Average 38.34 Innings 31 Runs 997 50's 7 100's 1

Elton Chigumbura-

Career Average 25.37 Innings 195 Runs 4289 50's 19 100's 2

Tier 1 Average 30.05 Innings 42 Runs 1022 50's 6 100's 1

Tier 2 Average 23.48 Innings 117 Runs 2442 50's 11 100's 1

Tier 3 Average 26.61 Innings 36 Runs 825 50's 2 100's 0

Vusi Sibanda-

Career Average 24.28 Innings 124 Runs 2914 50's 21 100's 2

Tier 1 Average 16.13 Innings 30 Runs 484 50's 3 100's 0

Tier 2 Average 25.07 Innings 82 Runs 1956 50's 14 100's 1

Tier 3 Average 39.50 Innings 12 Runs 474 50's 4 100's 1

Chamu Chibhabha-

Career Average 23.65 Innings 103 Runs 2389 50's 16 100's 0

Tier 1 Average 31.73 Innings 15 Runs 476 50's 3 100's 0

Tier 2 Average 22.40 Innings 69 Runs 1501 50's 10 100's 0

Tier 3 Average 21.68 Innings 19 Runs 412 50's 3 100's 0

Malcolm Waller-

Career Average 19.07 Innings 72 Runs 1259 50's 5 100's 0

Tier 1 Average 10 Innings 11 Runs 110 50's 0 100's 0

Tier 2 Average 23.83 Innings 40 Runs 882 50's 3 100's 0

Tier 3 Average 14.83 Innings 21 Runs 267 50's 2 100's 0

Solomon Mire-

Career Average 21 Innings 40 Runs 840 50's 3 100's 1

Tier 1 Average 9 Innings 5 Runs 45 50's 0 100's 0

Tier 2 Average 28.75 Innings 16 Runs 460 50's 2 100's 1

Tier 3 Average 17.63 Innings 19 Runs 335 50's 1 100's 0

Peter Moor-

Career Average 19.38 Innings 39 Runs 698 50's 3 100's 0

Tier 1 Average 6.4 Innings 5 Runs 32 50's 0 100's 0

Tier 2 Average 18.6 Innings 22 Runs 372 50's 1 100's 0

Tier 3 Average 26.72 Innings 12 Runs 294 50's 2 100's 0

Tatenda Taibu-

Career Average 29.41 Innings 136 Runs 3383 50's 22 100's 2

Tier 1 Average 31.60 Innings 32 Runs 1043 50's 4 100's 2

Tier 2 Average 26.41Innings 85 Runs 1955 50's 14 100's 0

Tier 3 Average 48.12 Innings 9 Runs 385 50's 4 100's 0

Stuart Matsikenyeri-

Career Average 22.01 Innings 110 Runs 2224 50's 13 100's 0

Tier 1 Average 20.70 Innings 29 Runs 559 50's 3 100's 0

Tier 2 Average 18.16 Innings 69 Runs 1181 50's 4 100's 0

Tier 3 Average 53.77 Innings 12 Runs 484 50's 6 100's 0

Good analysis, makes for a horrific reading though :(

Wow Hamilton has fallen short of even expectations of him. Averages under 26 against even tier 2 sides. Granted even tier 2 sides are pretty strong. I wonder though, Bangladesh have only been tier 2 from 2010 onwards, before then, runs against BD would have to be classed as tier 3 (not that I would have admitted it at the time, lol).

Chigs and Chamu are the other surprises with their unexpectedly high tier 1 numbers. For Chamu he's only played 15 innings so a fluke good score can bump him up. But Chigs has played 40 plus games so even 2-3 fluke scores wouldn't alter his average much.

We need one for the bowlers.

But here's my little addendum. Recent form should be emphasized in addition to career numbers. So here are some of the stats since the 2015 World Cup...also strike rates are almost as important as averages.

Batsman _______Tier 1 Avg (innings) @ strike rate_____________Tier 2 Avg (innings) @ strike rate____________Tier 3 Avg (innings) @ strike rate

C Chibhabha______36.33 (6) @ 61.40__________________________31.41 (18) @ 72.85

E Chigumbura_____25.00 (9) @ 79.05__________________________30.46 (17) @ 84.00

V Sibanda________23.60 (5) @ 56.45

S Raza___________21.40 (5) @ 66.87__________________________46.90 (28) @ 84.73

S Williams________20.40 (5) @ 77.86__________________________33.28 (24) @ 82.13

B Taylor__________19.66 (3) @ 65.55__________________________51.62 (8) @ 89.97

H Masakadza______17.44 (9) @ 54.89__________________________30.77 (27) @ 76.94

C Ervine__________7.75 (4) @ 33.69___________________________28.94 (22) @ 79.02

P Moor_____________6.40 (5) @ 47.76_________________________19.83 (20) @ 70.00

Haven't done Tier 3 teams yet, but ZIM have played very few games against the Tier 1 sides. The new ODI league should fix these types of imbalances. but we see that ZIM have batted very well against tier 2 sides, but their win-loss ratio is an underwhelming 7-25 with 1 tie, indicating that the pitches must have been quite flat, as is the norm in ODIs.

Will continue tomorrow hopefully.

Back in the day Chibahba had a little bit of pace. I watched him at the bullring in an ODI in 2009; he opened the bowling and clocked in at 135Kph (83mph). Not rapid, but nippy. Still, that was 10 years ago

Chamu is an opening batsman 4th or 5th change ODI middle over bowler, unless he's playing well up top he has no place in the side IMO.

They tried him earlier in his career as an opening bowler or 1st change, he simply doesn't suit that role. He's much more effective once the ball is softer and the field is set back as he can use his accuracy and change of pace well.

Don't really see him as a middle order player because of his issues playing spin, the issue now is also that teams know this and open with a spinner because they know he can't play it.

CrimsonAvenger wrote: ↑Tue Jan 29, 2019 3:11 am

Good analysis, makes for a horrific reading though :(

Sorry CA, it's easier to look at on a PC, not so good for a smart phone

jaybro wrote: ↑Tue Jan 29, 2019 9:09 pm

CrimsonAvenger wrote: ↑Tue Jan 29, 2019 3:11 am

Good analysis, makes for a horrific reading though :(

Sorry CA, it's easier to look at on a PC, not so good for a smart phone

Oh that's not what I meant mate, readability wasn't an issue. I meant the numbers are so bad from our guys that one would feel like running away from reading it :)

CrimsonAvenger wrote: ↑Wed Jan 30, 2019 12:16 am

Oh that's not what I meant mate, readability wasn't an issue. I meant the numbers are so bad from our guys that one would feel like running away from reading it :)

Oh I see 😂

You're not wrong CA, the numbers from the 'mainstays' or 'premier batsman' are bleak, BT does ok at 29 runs against the Tier 1 opponents, but Raza, Williams, Ervine & Hamilton all do really poorly averaging just above 20 !!!! For all the haters he has Elton has shown he can stand up to the bigger boys and having played them more than anyone barring Hamilton. The issue with Elton now is obviously whether or not he could do it again, I think not.

As Kriterion has pointed out with the new ODI League starting, the boys will have more chances to come up against the bigger boys and rectify those numbers.